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A controversial essay written by former New York Times editorial page editor James Bennet in The Economist is generating lots of buzz and criticism due to his contention that a culture of “illiberalism” has infected The Times.
If you care about the future of journalism and liberal democracy, ignore Bennet’s message at your peril.
In case you’ve forgotten, Bennet was pushed out of his job in 2020, after greenlighting an op-ed written by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), which argued that the U.S. military should be called in to quell violence if local law enforcement needed support. This, in turn, led The Times’ union to decry publication of the piece as “a clear threat to the health and safety of the journalists we represent.”